About Me

Sunday, March 13, 2016

THE MARK IN AMERICA, ISSUE #2, PAGE 9

This is page 3 of the
walking tour of “Little Lutzany” sequence.

One of my challenges was to
motivate the plot development of Janos Brovnik’s contingent encountering
Special Agent Pierce, which (on page 10, page 4 of the sequence), which escalates
first into an altercation with on elderly Archon supporter and finally a
rallying cry to disrupt the Archon’s scheduled appearance at Stephangart Hall. How
could I justify this chain of events? The script gave no clues. Why would New
Yorkers, rushing about their morning business, pay any heed to a middle aged
man holding up a drawing in the middle of the street, even if he was an
important local personality?

This is an instance of how
my then recent R&R trip to Manhattan paid off. I was impressed by the
sidewalk vegetable stand, not a feature of my hometown of Los Angeles or
Anchorage Alaska, where I was raised. It occurred to me that this would be a perfect
assembly point for random Neo-Lutzans. I’m really proud of how the sequence is
paced, how it unfolds. I especially like panels 3 & 4, where Isaac stops
abruptly causing Burovnik’s close-following goons to collide unnoticed against
his back.

I also really like the inking on panel 6, the way the foreground
characters are shaded (especially Burovnik, a silhouette high lit with white
paint) which spotlights the artist rendering of the Mark in the lower center of
the panel.

This is page 9 for "The Mark" issue 2,
volume 2, otherwise known as "The Mark In America", published by Dark
Horse Comics in January 1994. Written by Mike Barr, drawn by Brad Rader.